E.A. Sports Today

PV serves up a victory

[corner-ad id=2]Lady Raiders ace their area opener; Donoho, J’ville gain a little revenge

By East Alabama Sports Today

JACKSONVILLE – The Pleasant Valley volleyball team got an early start on its day and opened the defense of its 2014 area championship in impressive fashion, beating Weaver 3-0.

The Lady Raiders (6-2), playing early Thursday to avoid homecoming conflicts, won 25-16, 25-9, 25-10.

They were particularly sharp in their serving game. Anna Bryant and Savanna Williams each had five aces. Madi Bentley had two aces, while Blakely Malsey and Leah Johnson had one each.

“They were aggressive on their serves,” coach Dana Bryant said. “In the past our serving hasn’t been very strong, so it’s something the girls have been focusing on.

“If you’ve got a strong serving team it does make the game more challenging. Today we were and I hope we continue to do that.”

The Lady Raiders also were strong executing some new hitting combinations, especially among middle hitters Malsey and Mikayla Kendrick.

Cammy Cochran had 11 kills and 13 digs, Malsey had seven kills, Johnson had six kills, Bentley had nine digs and Bryant had 28 assists.

“They take a lot of communications before the plays even start, so it’s not always easy,” Bryant said of the new sets. “But these girls are picking it up.”

Donoho 2, Saks 0
Donoho 2, Piedmont 0
Saks 2, Piedmont 0

The Lady Falcons returned to the scene of their first loss of the season and handed the first loss of the year to the team that gave it to them.

Donoho gained a measure of revenge for its loss in the championship match of the Saks Invitational on Saturday by beating the 4A Lady Wildcats 25-18, 25-21.

The 1A Lady Falcons (7-1) then turned around and beat Piedmont 25-13, 25-21.

Saks, 9-0 before its Donoho loss, bounced back to defeat Piedmont in the final match of the night 25-14, 25-5.

“I was really proud of our effort tonight,” Donoho coach Janice Slay said. “The girls put together a sound all-around game. It was a good team effort for us. I feel like Saks is a very solid team, so it was a good win for us.”

In the Saks match, Madison Gaines had five kills, two aces and seven blocks, while Camryn Swain had five kills, three aces and five digs.

Anna Marie Woodfin had eight digs, Kayla Wallace scored four aces and Katie Brown dealt 17 assists.

Against Piedmont, Gaines and Camille Fink each had five kills, Woodfin had six digs and Brown recorded 17 assists. Fink, Swain and Ryleigh Warren each had three digs.

“I think we made (Donoho) mad Saturday and they wanted to beat us really bad,” Saks coach Randy Law said. “We didn’t step up to the challenge real well.

“I think we got to the point we beat Donoho Saturday and thought they were going to lay down for us. They were ready to play us. I hope we learned a lesson from it.”

Jordan Briskey had 15 kills and 10 digs for Saks in its two matches. Tayler Teague had nine kills and five digs. Jaelyn Wilson had eight kills and 33 assists.

Jacksonville 3, Oxford 0

OXFORD — The Golden Eagles executed a little payback of their own in avenging a three-set loss to Oxford at Alexandria two nights earlier.

All three sets in the best-of-five were tight, with Jacksonville winning 25-23, 26-24, 26-24. The Golden Eagles won the third set after trailing 21-13.

“We talked some in practice how to handle the end of games and fighting a little more than we were,” Jacksonville coach David Clark said. “Getting a chance to play them again was actually a good thing for us.

“We needed to build a little momentum and the way we did it was satisfying. I didn’t think we played real well, but I think we battled a lot and came from behind in every game, so that was big we learned to do that and had some success doing it.”

Aniyah Robinson had eight kills in the match, while Sierra Stone and Brandi Canady each had seven. Stone also had five blocks. Sarah Lumpkin had six blocks and Reagan Stallings had nine digs. Halee Holtbrooks had 22 assists.

Breanna Nolan had 11 kills and 13 digs for Oxford. Karagan Timmons had 23 digs, JoJo Skinner had nine kills and three aces, and Chloe Stone had 10 digs, two aces and 36 assists.

The Lady Jackets were playing without middle hitter Nyia Archie.

Jacksonville returns to the court Saturday in its inaugural CaroStrong Invitational, an event honoring the memory of former Jacksonville player Caroline Neisler who died after a battle with leukemia in 2013. Alexandria, Brooks, Geraldine and Oneonta also are in the field.

Faith Christian 3, Cleburne County 0

The Lady Lions swept the visiting Lady Tigers, 25-19, 25-17, 26-24, improving to 5-2 on the season.

“It was a good night,” Faith coach Bradley Dawson said. “Everyone got to play and we got better tonight.”

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